Youth Frontiers mentoring

Children aged 12 to 16 from Murrumbidgee, Far West and Western NSW will be matched with local volunteer adult mentors and work collaboratively on a community project of their own choosing.

The NSW Department of Family and Community Services launched the program at Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College on the NSW Central Coast this morning.

Save the Children Australia NSW state manager Andrew Smith said mentees would receive a minimum of 35 hours mentoring, including at least 10 hours of one-on-one and face-to-face mentoring.

The Youth Frontiers program focuses on children who are under-engaged in school or local community life and have had limited opportunities to have focused engagement.

"The aim of the Youth Frontiers program is to engage young people through quality mentoring with a focus on building confidence, self-esteem and communication skills," Mr Smith said.

"Youth Frontiers also strives to enable young people to overcome barriers to community participation by developing team work, leadership and decision-making skills.

"Save the Children is looking forward to working with existing providers, Marathon Health and local young people to help shape the program and put young people's voices at the heart of the Youth Frontiers."

Save the Children Australia will deliver the Murrumbidgee service and will sub-contract the Far West and Western NSW district programs to Marathon Health, a not-for-profit primary health care organisation that delivers health services and programs to regional and remote communities.

Marathon Health executive manager of health services in Dubbo Linda Cutler said it was exciting to bring this opportunity to western NSW communities.

"On a daily basis, young people are faced with decisions that will impact their future. We want to encourage them to take the steps to become the best they can be," Ms Cutler said.

"We're looking to create a culturally safe space for young people to have fun, build positive relationships, engage with the community and acquire helpful life skills.

"We're keen to find and work with local community members who will act as mentors to these young people and help them achieve recognition for their contribution to projects in their community.

"In partnership with Save the Children, we are recruiting local project officers to implement the Youth Frontiers mentoring program and will be working closely with schools to identify those that may benefit from this initiative."

The Youth Frontiers Mentoring Program is an initiative of the NSW Government that has delivered mentoring to about 1,200 young people across NSW each year since it began in 2015.

The program focuses on increasing opportunities for young people to actively and meaningfully participate in their communities.

The program gives mentees an opportunity to build life skills and self-confidence and achieve recognition for the contribution their project makes to their community.

The NSW Government has committed funding for the delivery of the Youth Frontiers program for a further three-year period from 2018 to 2020.

Call Alex Sampson on 0429 943 027 for interviews.